All Forum Posts by: Chris Allen

Okay. And that kind of makes sense. They also may be trying to see if there are different prices for different times to see if they can get a deal. 

Just be honest and upfront with them about your property and requirements. Best of luck! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out, happy to help!

 I don't have any nurse rentals yet (two being remodeled to transition to that model). But I am a travel nurse, so here is my suggestions. 

- Are you strictly wanting nurse travelers or are you okay with any mid term traveler?

- I would suggest placing your listing on AirBNB and or VRBO as well, you can just alter your minimum stay to 30 day's. If you do this, you could use a PMS such as Hospitable or Guesty to help automate a lot of the communications. (Not sure if there is one for FF). 

- Did you have to reject the first inquiry? Or why would they be inquiring under multiple names? If needed, I would just tell them you need a phone interview prior to them staying. Much harder to lie over the phone, will be easier to catch them in a lie.

- For ease of communication, I would type out your booking questions and requirements that way you can just copy and past to every guest. My PMS for my vacation rental does this. If a guest does not answer all of my questions, then I make sure to get answers. Maybe something like 

" Hi there *Guest Name*, thank you for your interest in our property! If you could, would you please answer the following questions and confirm that you have read, understand, and accept the house rules.

- What brings you to the area?

- How long is your contract?

- What agency are you traveling through?

- Are you traveling alone or will there be others staying in the property with you?

- Any animals?

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to let me know!"

 I don't blame you for wanting to get your real estate license, I am a nurse as well and have considered getting mine for a lot of the same reasons you mentioned. I might be wrong, but I don't believe the "savings" from having your license on the buying side is all of that big of a cost savings. I do think it helps to be able to negotiate directly with the seller agent, but usually the seller pays for the realtor fees. So it may just help you more in negotiating a strong offer towards the seller agent. 

As far as your plan goes, I personally think you might want to look into other options. If $50k is all of your savings, I would think that you may want to keep at least a portion of that as an "emergency fund" and take the rest to invest. You could get a HELOC to tap into your home equity, and then maybe look into using your 10% vacation home loan to purchase an AirBNB if that's the route you want to take, and then maybe even have your fiance use her 2nd home loan to buy another. So for the same $230k down payment on a $1-2mm property, you could buy 2 $1mm properties somewhere else.

 Check out Harrell, Stoebner, and Russell in Temple.

Just wondering if any other investors in Killeen, Belton, Temple, Bell County areas have any recommendation for a good lender? Looking to refinance two properties of mine into long term financing. I have looked at the BP marketplace, but wanted to see about any local people. 

This is the contact info for the lender that I used to purchase my vacation home in the Smoky's. Not sure what type of commercial products they have, but they are a national lender but he is local in Maryville. He did a great job for me. 

Brian Currier at Movement Mortgage

 I have not thought about this yet, so you could very well be right. My thought was start it out as a 1031, and if I am unable to find something I actually like, then just eat the tax bill and take the cash. 

I just got a HELOC on my primary residence which is a duplex for that reason. This particular property I dont really want to keep long term.

So I have not started yet, but after having an initial consult with my investor agent buddy, we think that I could potentially walk away from a sale with between $60-70K profit. With that amount of profit and only owning for 2yrs, I would want to at least look into doing a 1031. My dilemma is what is the best use of the cash, so here are thoughts I have had. BTW currently trying to focus on STR's and have one property in the Smoky Mountains, and am remodeling two properties local to me to rent as an STR.

- Use $70k as a 10% down loan on another vacation rental in a separate market from the Smoky Mountains. ($700k PP).

- Use $70k as a 20-25% dp on a vacation rental in another market. ($300k PP).

- Use $70K as 20-25% dp two SFH in my local market or one SMF. (Two $175k or One $350k).

- If possible, use $70k to buy land outright and build? 

@Caleb Stacks Once again, I agree with both of the above. I am a travel nurse as well, and before I started traveling about 2.5yr ago, I bought my primary which is a duplex. While I don't rent it out on AirBNB when I travel (wife does not want us to), I can attest that this was super easy to get into and has been great having someone else pay my rent when I am gone. Right at a year ago, I closed on a cabin in the Smoky Mountains of TN and I have seen some great returns! Over the last 2-3yr since I started, I have bought my primary, BRRRR a property, bought the cabin, and bought two other properties that are being remodeled to turn into an STR. Take advantage of your income now for your personal loans (Primary/FHA, and a second home AirBNB). Though it can be more difficult to get financing as a travel nurse.

Something I honestly have not thought about until writing this, is what if on your travel assignments instead of finding a furnished rental, you target unfurnished rentals and make a deal with them to arbitrage it? That could be a cool way to step into Arbitrage?